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You almost can’t blame Scott Coker for getting a little carried away. Standing in front of reporters after the conclusion of his heavyweight grand prix, the Bellator president heaped praise on two-division champion Ryan Bader.

“He’s got to be right up there in the top two or three (pound-for-pound) in my opinion,” Coker said. “The guy is dangerous.”

Whoa there. Slow it way down. We’re still talking about Bader, right?

The same guy who got throttled by actual pound-for-pound great Jon Jones? Guy who got knocked out by Lyoto Machida and Glover Teixeira and Anthony Johnson during his time with the UFC? Not that there’s any shame in losing to any of them, but it does paint a certain kind of picture of a fighter who’s not high in the running for best in the world.

But come on, Coker is the promoter. It’s his job to hype his guy. And, it must be said, Bader’s run through the heavyweight tournament was legitimately impressive. Not only did he go up a weight class and win the whole thing, he barely even got touched.

How do you not give him his propers after all that?

Of course, fight fans can always find a way. They’ll point to his strength of schedule. They’ll point to the people he beat to claim this second title. An undersized Muhammad Lawal, a wrestling-deficient Matt Mitrione, an ancient and increasingly fragile Fedor Emelianenko.

Big deal. So what?

But if that’s how we’re going to judge Bader, he’s doomed. He can only fight and beat the opponents available to him, and there’s no one in either of the two Bellator divisions he competes in with a strong enough standing that a win over him would radically change the way we look at Bader. In the mostly imaginary public opinion rankings, he can climb only so high.

But there’s more than one way to gauge success in this sport. Wins over elite competition are nice. Then again, so is job satisfaction. So is respect. So is having a little money in your pocket.

On those counts, Bader’s move to Bellator was a good one. Instead of being just another light heavyweight who’s somewhere south of the top spot, which is likely what he would be in the UFC, he’s the top dog in the No. 2 promotion. Instead of having a boss who’s known for putting his own fighters down in press conferences and interviews, he’s got one who goes a shade too far in the other direction.

He’s also making a flat fee of $150,000 just to show up, plus the option to sell sponsorships for extra cash, so that ain’t bad either.

Point is, the love of the mob is fickle and intangible. You can’t count on it to be there tomorrow, and you can’t pay your mortgage with it today. Given that reality, can you blame a fighter for not giving one single damn where we’d rank him on our hypothetical pound-for-pound lists?

Bader’s pretty good at what he does. That much ought to be obvious enough to make it not worth arguing about. He might even be better now than he was three or four years ago. Or he might just look like it against lesser competition.

But then, when you end the night walking out with a big smile on your face and more title belts than you can carry, you might be forgiven for not really caring about the distinction.

For complete coverage of Bellator 214, check out the MMA Eventssection of the site.